Choices Chosen
by Windblown.child
Summary: Tired of being the damsel in distress, Elena takes things into her own hands. Damon and Stefan have to live with that decision. Trigger Warning inside.
1. The Coward's Choice

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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The Coward's Choice

Elena felt like the weight of the world was simultaneously crushing her, and as if she was completely numb. Everything the last few days was entirely too much for her to comprehend and yet, in her protracted grief, she felt a new kind of clarity. Everything was her fault. If she had died on the bridge with her parents, none of this would have happened. Vampires wouldn't be crawling all over Mystic Falls, Bonnie's Grandmother would still be alive, Alaric wouldn't be a killer. The list went on.

She let herself into her house, wanting nothing more than to fall into her bed and vanish into the pillows, but she was brought up short by noise from the kitchen. Of course nothing was as simple as she wished, so the brunette put on a smile and let her friends lead with celebration shots, but Elena knew the real score. Everything would be so much better if she had never survived driving off the bridge. Finally Bonnie, Tyler, Caroline, and Matt stumbled to the door and said their goodbyes. Jeremy closed the front door before walking into the half painted room and opening a can of paint.

"Are you going to stay up for a bit?" Elena asked, leaning in the doorway.

"Yeah, it's been a long day but I don't think I could sleep yet." The young man nodded.

"Okay, well I'm going upstairs. Goodnight." The brunette waved at her little brother's back and escaped to her room.

Once the door was closed and she was alone, Elena reached into her pocket and pulled out three glass vials. She stared at the thick red liquid in the vials and let the tears come for all of those that had died or lost everything because of her. Even though it wasn't her fault, she never asked for any of the responsibility of being a doppelgänger, Elena knew she had the power to stop all of it. If only she didn't exist, there would be no reason for Klaus to stay in Mystic Falls, and none of her friends would be targets. Jeremy could go to school without worrying if his ring would save his life that day, Caroline could live her life in peace. And the Salvatores would never be divided by her again.

Her plan had been thought out weeks ago, if things ever got out of hand, she could pull the plug on everything. All it took was the final step. Elena's fingers shook as she fingered the little bottle with a crude S written in permanent marker on the cap. Then she looked at the bottle marked with a D in her other hand. She knew that Damon and Stefan would be devastated by what she was contemplating. All of her friends would. But it would be a fleeting pain. They would get on with their lives and have families and eventually they wouldn't hurt so much. And most importantly, they would be alive.

Elena broke the seals on the two bottles and upended them into her mouth at the same time. Thick copper flooded her tongue and she fought the urge to gag around the taste. She scrunched up her face and swallowed, licking the blood from her teeth. Still feeling like she was sucking on a penny, the lithe brunette dropped to her knees to reach under her bed for a box that held the supplies for the next step in her plan. The only reason she had decided on this method was Jeremy would be taken care of and he could have a fresh start, away from a lifetime of memories. It would bring as much closure as she could provide.

She quietly moved one of her chairs into the hallway to reach the smoke detector at the top of the stairs. Once the battery was replaced with a drained 9 volt, the brunette shouted down the stairs.

"I'm going to take a bath, okay?"

Jeremy's voice was muffled from the downstairs bedroom. "Yeah, do your thing."

"I love you Jer." Elena hollered, trying not to let the guilt affect her decision.

Not hearing anything else, the doppelganger went to the bathroom and turned the tub on to fill with cold water while she exchanged the batteries in the rest of the upstairs rooms. By the time she replaced the chair in her bedroom and carried the box into the bathroom, the tub was full so the brunette turned the tap off and began pulling half empty nail polish bottles and used cans of hairspray out and lining them up on the counter. A few towels and an old ratty cell phone charger remained in the box so the young woman removed those too. She hoped that by using household items commonly found in a bathroom, the insurance company wouldn't look too closely at the cause and just pay out the money.

A few minutes of arranging the beauty supplies and cell phone had Elena satisfied. She tiptoed back into her bedroom for a change of clothes to add to the towels soaked in hairspray and nail polish. The brunette looked around the bathroom again, trying to remember all of the things she had seen on TV about determining the source of ignition in fires. For this to work, everything had to be just so if she had any hope of fooling everyone. Now she just needed an innocent source of ignition.

For her entire plan to work, Elena needed a delay for the final step and she frowned. Somehow in all her planning, she hadn't thought of anything to do the trick. Afraid that she might have to do something more drastic and less apparently accidental, the brunette had an idea. It only took a few more minutes to gather all of the candles from her room and find a lighter in Jeremy's dresser. Everyone knew it had been a stressful day, and candles always made baths more relaxing. The accelerants on the counter could be chalked up to a forgetful teenager with far too many beauty products. Lastly, Elena placed her journal next to the shortest candle, sure to position it so the pages would catch after a few minutes and then she lit every candle.

Finally satisfied, the young woman stripped out of her clothes, sure to toss them carelessly towards the candles sitting on the floor. For this to really work, it had to be a large blaze, not something easily extinguished. It had to be hot enough to destroy the house completely so her body would be expected to be destroyed. Because no matter how self destructive the brunette was, she didn't really want to die. She just didn't want to live any more, and the closest thing to dieing, was completely disappearing. Knowing she was running out of time, the brunette stepped into the tub and bit her lip at the freezing water.

Water sloshed almost to the edges of the tub when she sunk to her knees, and Elena clutched the last bottle to her chest. This was the final moment. She eyed the flame licking closer to the pages of her diary. All or nothing. She kept her mind purposefully blank as the candle caught on the book and spread towards the towel. Smoke began filling the room and the brunette exhaled deeply before plunging forward into the icy water. At the sudden cold on her skin, the young woman instinctively wanted to breathe in and jump out of the tub but she fought to hold her breath and remained face down in the water.

Sounds were muffled under the water, but she still felt the whump when the hairspray soaked towels caught fire. Smoke would be filling the room, and she knew that even if she lost control now and emerged from the water, there wouldn't be fresh air to save her. Suddenly she knew for a fact that she was going to die. She was unable to keep from inhaling any longer and the cold water shocked her lungs even as she fought to stay down. Hopefully the fire would be large enough to destroy everything before the emergency services arrived.

Elena's last thought was of how devastated the Salvatore brothers would be when they got the call that she was gone. But it would be for the better and she didn't fight the darkness coming to claim her.


	2. Unchosen

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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Unchosen

Damon was pacing the sitting room, glass of scotch in his hand while Stefan sat on a burgundy chaise. It had been a long exhausting day and the blond man was ready to drop, but he stayed up to watch his brother. Something was eating at the dark haired man and while Stefan suspected the cause, he neither had the answers or the patience to discuss it at the moment.

"Sit down Damon, you're making me dizzy."

The older man paused and glanced at his brother reclining on the couch before taking a drink and pacing back the direction he had come. "Something's wrong."

"It's your imagination." Stefan dismissed his concern. "Klaus is finally gone, and things are going to go back to normal."

Damon whirled, a black silhouette in front of the fire. "Don't you feel it? Something's not right." He insisted.

The blond vampire sighed and drained his glass. "All I feel is exhausted. Though I do wish Elena had stayed here tonight."

When the black haired vampire only turned to face the fire, Stefan gave up. "I'm going to bed."

Damon ignored his younger brother's exit and continued to stare into the flames. Something felt wrong, as if he had forgotten to do something important and now the hairs at the back of his neck were standing on end. A second glass of scotch didn't calm his nerves so he pulled out his cell phone. What he really wanted was to be near Elena, even if the proximity also felt like slowly pushing a stake into his gut.

He pressed the speed dial icon for the beautiful brunette and hoped she wasn't already asleep. When it rolled directly over to voicemail, Damon fumbled to end the call having nothing to say in a message. He fought the urge to throw the phone onto the fireplace in a fit of anger and instead put away his glass and retired to his room. Elena deserved a break from all of the insanity in her life, even if that meant he should also keep his distance. Tomorrow was another day and Damon could wait until then to see her again.

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Stefan stood speechless in the street, mouth hanging open in disbelief at the scene of utter destruction before him. Fire trucks were dark and silent in the early morning sun, parked in front of what used to be a welcoming white house. Unable to comprehend the implication, the blond let his hand grip his brother's shoulder where he had fallen to his knees on the pavement. Damon was shaking his head in denial, torn between grief and rage at the pile of ash where the love of his unlife had lived.

The brothers slowly turned when they heard someone calling their names, quickly spotting a filthy and exhausted looking Jeremy jumping down from a fire truck. Stefan found his voice first, snapping his jaw shut to growl menacingly at the teenager. "Where is she?"

Damon didn't want the teen to answer because he already knew the truth. "She didn't make it out, did she?" He sounded broken even to his own ears, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered without Elena.

Jeremy shook his head sadly and sighed, letting his shoulders slump. "I had hoped she had snuck out to see you two."

The blond vampire could feel Damon start to quiver under his hand and he let his knees unhinge to kneel next to his brother. They clung to each other, unfeeling of the asphalt under their knees or the eyes of the firemen still wandering around the property looking for hotspots. Stefan finally forced the inhuman grip on his brother to relax, trying to run from the pain he wasn't ready to feel. Of all the close encounters with supernatural beings, they lost her to something so mundane they never expected it.

"Come on Damon, we shouldn't be here." Stefan tried to pull at the older vampire's shoulder. It wasn't smart for them to be so raw in public. It was a recipe for disaster.

"Fuck off!" Damon snapped, shaking off the hand on his shoulder.

He felt like running, running until his legs gave out, until he couldn't run any more. But he knew that the pain would still be there and that he could never run fast enough to escape himself. Lacking anything better to do, the dark haired man slumped and let his brother pull him to his feet. Damon pulled the blond man into an embrace, uncaring that they were grieving because they both loved the same woman. He pulled away and stalked back towards the car, vaguely listening as Stefan made sure that Jeremy had a place to stay and offered the boarding house until he could get situated.

When Stefan took too long to return to the car, the older brother reached over and honked the horn. Damon contemplated getting out again, but the driver's door opened and he decided to go poking around the burned down house after he made sure that his little brother wasn't going to do anything stupid like revert to being a ripper at the apparent loss of the petite brunette. The irony of keeping Stefan from doing anything drastic wasn't lost on Damon as he tried to think of ways to channel his own pain, knowing that he would normally just drink and sleep his way through half of the town before moving on. But after everything they had gone through, he knew he couldn't just abandon Elena's friends.

"We need to find out who did this." Stefan drove mindlessly around town. "It couldn't be Klaus, but there are plenty of people who want to see Elena hurt."

Damon agreed and tried to wrack his brain for the likely culprit. Rebekah should be under Elijah's control and Klaus' hybrids were driven out of town. Katherine was presumably still in hiding after waking Michael, besides she had backed off trying to kill Elena before the Originals had showed up. Alaric was a suspect, but it didn't make sense for him to kill Elena while their lives were bound together and his purpose unfulfilled. A sour pang hit Damon in the gut when he realized that his friend had also perished with the young woman. Every creature trying to further their own goals required Elena alive and well, not charred to a crisp.

"None of it makes sense." The blond vampire muttered, clearly having the same thought process. "Everyone needed Elena alive. Unless it was just an accident."

Realizing the only thing that made sense at the moment, Damon pounded his fist on the dash before deflating into the seat. "It wasn't an accident, but no one killed her."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Stefan, usually you're the smart one." He snarked without feeling. "Elena killed herself."

Stefan slammed on the brakes, nearly sending Damon into the dash. "She wouldn't do that."

"Think about it brother, everything that has happened over the last few years has been because of her."

"But it's not her fault."

"Of course not, but try to think about it from her perspective. Without Elena the doppelganger line ends, Klaus can never make more hybrids, Alaric dies with her and there's no reason for the Originals to stay in town."

"Do you think she would do that?"

"I think Elena has a big heart and she can only take so much pain. She probably figured she was saving lives."

Stefan didn't say anything for a long time as he piloted the car back to the boarding house. When he did speak, it was in a quiet, almost broken voice. "What about us?"

Damon had avoided thinking about what this meant for the two of them after their conversation the previous day. They had decided to take the high road no matter Elena's choice when it came to them. One of them would have left Mystic Falls, and the beautiful brunette behind once she had chosen. But now there was no choice to be made and the brothers had nothing standing between them.

Damon closed his eyes at the revelation. "She did it for us. She knew she could never choose between us."

"I can't believe that she would have killed herself before making a decision. It must have been an accident."

"I'm going back to the house after dark and the investigators are finished combing through everything."

"I'm going with you."

Damon didn't fight the younger man's offer. He suspected that there would be nothing for them to find.


	3. Destiny Chosen

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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Destiny Chosen

Elena regained consciousness in a confusion of smoke and water. She could feel the heat on her back when she pushed out of the water, trying to vomit up the water in her lungs even though she knew she didn't need to breathe. Her eyes were watering and all she could see through the smoke was flames and the brunette started to hyperventilate, heat scorching her abused lungs. Only the feeling of something in her hand made her pause long enough to draw the last vial of blood out of the water and she remembered her plan.

Crouching down in the water to avoid the heat as best she could, the young woman swallowed the contents of the bottle, expecting the same gaggingly thick coppery taste as before. Instead, she found herself desiring more and was momentarily distracted by trying to lick more out of the little bottle. Wood popped and the bathroom counter collapsed, reminding Elena that she was rapidly running out of time to escape the burning building. Silently she cursed her lack of preparation for this part. The brunette looked around for anything she could soak in the rapidly evaporating bathwater to cover her bare skin, but the only clothing not already alight was the outfit she had already worn that she intentionally wanted to leave for someone to find since they wouldn't find a body in the blaze.

Feeling the heat rapidly drying her hair, the fledgeling vampire ducked under the water again before bolting for the door and into her bedroom where the flames were only beginning to spread. Elena paused just long enough to grab clothes from her closet throw them on before dashing out of the window to safety. She lurked behind a hedge down the street where she could watch and make sure that Jeremy got out okay and catch a breath she didn't really need.

As she watched her younger brother bolt out of the house frantically calling her name, Elena took stock of her body. Just as every vampire had described, everything seemed heightened. The air was fresh and cool on her skin, the sirens in the distance sounded much closer, and a branch was poking her in the thigh, feeling simultaneously muted and much too sharp. From experience, the brunette knew that waiting longer between the onset of transition and consuming human blood made the heightened senses more uncomfortable. But she had completed the change immediately upon waking and the discomfort was already settling towards what she presumed would be her new normal as she watched her brother pace in the street and fire trucks finally arrive. Elena watched until the roof of the house collapsed and the hoses were turned on neighboring houses to contain the fire.

There would be nothing left but ash and everyone would assume she was dead, but the guilt was already clawing at her throat. She wanted to run to Jeremy and apologize for worrying him, she wanted to crawl into bed with Stefan and pretend none of this had happened. Instead of allowing the emotions to get the better of her, Elena pushed away from the hedge and reviled in the new speed she possessed. It took mere moments to leave her neighborhood behind along with the sounds of sirens and the smell of smoke. Unsurprisingly, she quickly tired, the swallow of human blood she had consumed wasn't enough to get her quickly to the edge of town like she had planned.

It wasn't as if the brunette had hoped never to feed, she just wanted to be far away from anyone she might know just in case she lost control and couldn't resist. Elena contemplated continuing out of town before feeding, but she literally only had the clothes on her back and she would need to practice compelling people before she could get any distance away. She figured she might as well start at the bus depot and secure a ticket away from the only home she had known. Mind made up, the new vampire began walking having decided to try her hand with compulsion on the first stranger she came across.

Less than 20 minutes passed before a car could be heard traveling down the road behind her and Elena hoped that they didn't know her. Fortunately, the brunette didn't recognize the newer model car as it passed her, then slowed down and reversed closer. Apparently, a disheveled young woman walking down a dark road alone was enough for a stranger to take note, even without a thumb thrown out for a ride. When the car came to a stop next to her, Elena fought her initial instinct to run in the opposite direction. 17 years spent avoiding strangers was going to take some time to unlearn so she smiled and leaned toward the passenger window as it rolled down.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing out on a night like this?" The slightly pudgy driver leered through the open window.

Her entire life was a lie from this point on, so she embraced it. "Hi. I'm from out of town and my ride ditched me at this party. Do you mind driving me to the bus station?" She tucked her long disheveled hair behind her ear and played up with young, stupid teenager look.

"Sure, hop on in."

The glint in his beady eyes would have been enough to send her running in the opposite direction as she disguised the shiver crawling down her spine by slipping gracefully into the car. He creeped her out completely until the window sealed and Elena was suddenly surrounded by the warm scent of the man pulling back into the empty lane. She could hear every beat of his heart and the brunette shivered, but not in revulsion.

"You must be cold." Unaware of the danger, the stranger reached over with his free hand and rubbed her thigh through her jeans. "I know somewhere I could warm you up."

Elena tried to smile gratefully without having to look at the flabby man. If she didn't know she was much more powerful than the creepy man next to her, she would have jumped out of the car despite how quickly the shadow enshrouded landscape was passing her by. He thought she was a clueless victim, but he was incredibly wrong. A plan was forming in her mind that had the potential to solve all of her immediate problems.

They pulled into a park on the edge of town. It was well out of the way and even high schoolers didn't bother using it as a place to drink and smoke so they were completely alone. The brunette tried to play coy as the man turned off the key, turned towards her in the seat and let his right arm rest against her seat so he could trail his fingers over her hair. With his wrist so close to her sensitive ears, Elena was filled with the sound of blood rushing under skin and she remembered how good the mouthful of blood had tasted earlier in the night.

She found herself turning towards the warm palm that shifted to cup her cheek and she could smell the sweat on his skin, but the warm rush of fluid just under the bitter scent beckoned to her. The drumbeat of his heart against her lips promised warmth and strength and an answer to the hunger that was threatening to crawl its way out of her throat. Elena gave in and sunk her teeth into the fleshy wrist, tearring messily at the skin and tendons to release the blood below.

The man might have made a noise of protest, but she was lost to the hunger that was making her gulp at the hot rush of blood. It leaked out between her lips and she pulled back enough to lick her lips and make a little hmm of satisfaction before capturing the wrist between her teeth again. She vaguely wondered how the taste of blood could ever have disgusted her before because now it tasted glorious on her tongue. Elena sucked harder on the mangled wrist when the flow began to slow. A tiny part of her brain told her it was because she was draining the pudgy man too much, but the greater part of her brain ignored the slowing heartbeat and the weak groans from the man.

Only when he slumped forward and pressed the horn button with his meaty shoulder did Elena draw back. She jolted out of the blood haze and smacked her head on the glass of the window. The scent of blood still filled the car, as did the weak heartbeat still trying to pump blood through the hefty man's body.

"Shit." Elena whispered, gently touching her blood stained lips. "Oh shit."

The brunette quickly shook off her shock and fumbled to pull his shoulder away from the horn. He groaned and Elena nicked her wrist to hold against his mouth, despite the disgusting feeling of his rubbery lips gumming at her skin. Soon the man was moving weakly and she removed her arm. Before he could divide to full consciousness, Elena looked him in the eyes and remembered what Stefan had said about believing what she said.

"You're going to forget about meeting me." She commanded. "And you'll never pick up strangers on the road again. Do you understand?"

"Who are you? How'd you get in my car?"

"Good." Elena nodded to herself, desperately trying to think of she had forgotten anything in her compulsion. "Give me your wallet, you were feeling generous."

Cash tucked into her pocket, the brunette broke eye contact and felt desperately for the door handle. She was thrilled that she had completed her first feed without killing and that her compulsion was a success. As long as she never crossed that line, Elena felt confident that with all the experience she had with vampires, if anyone could successfully transition alone and learn to feed without killing, it was her. 'Ride the edge', as Damon put it, one of the times she had been asking too many questions. As a member of a naturally superior predator species, the dark haired vampire had warned against living too far to the extreme like Stefan did. It created an imbalance that when upended, caused catastrophic damage. The trick was to revel in the blood without giving in to the thrill of the kill.

Elena pictured Damon in her mind as she jogged away from the park. They had come so far from their first meeting when he had been a remorseless killer hell bent on causing his brother pain for a transgression that turned out never happened. He had been in love with her ancestor then, and it should have been disturbing to grow closer to him as he found his humanity again and began to care about people other than himself. But as she grew closer to Stefan, and learned more about their history, Elena couldn't help but open herself to Damon as well. If only she had met the dark haired brother first, things might have turned out entirely different.

As if summoned by her thoughts, a memory pushed forward and she slowed to a leisurely walk. The night of her parents death had never been far from her thoughts but now this new memory slotted itself into place and Elena knew that she had been compelled to forget something about that night. After calling her parents to pick her up, the slightly tipsy girl had walked slowly towards the main road. When she was out of sight of the party, a man stepped out of the shadows, the blackness seeming to cling to his lithe body. Their conversation was trivial compared to the heat that had taken up residence in her belly. It was as if she was drawn to the pale man with striking eyes even as the memory had faded under compulsion.

Elena simultaneously cursed the compulsion that had made her forget, and thanked the laws of vampirism that had allowed her to remember. Another memory floated into her consciousness, Damon holding out the necklace that Stefan had given her. It was like a punch to the gut to finally remember the heartfelt confession from the older brother. How could she have ever thought he was selfish, when all Damon had done was constantly step aside for Stefan's happiness.

Tears blurred the new vampire's vision and when she wiped them away, she realized the bus depot was just around the corner. If only she knew then what she knew now, Elena might have been able to choose between the brothers. But in the same heartbeat she knew that she still wouldn't have been able to come between them after witnessing their twisted relationship. As a doppelganger, she had the power to drive them apart for centuries, or to bring them together, just as Katherine had. But unlike her ancestor, the young woman knew she couldn't choose one and turn her back on the other which brought her back to the reason she was leaving town. The Salvatores would be able to heal without her pulling them in different directions and she owed them that at least.

Behind scratched plexiglass, a bored heavyset woman sat with her chin in her hand, staring at her cellphone when Elena approached. She didn't look up for several moments, but when she finally did, it was with a put upon sigh. "What'chu need?"

"When does the next bus out of here leave?"

"Next bus at 6:20." The teller droned without consulting a timetable. "It's the sunrise bus." She chuckled as if it was some great joke, but Elena's face fell.

With one word, all of the brunette's plans fell through. She had completely neglected to remember that most vampires couldn't walk in the sun without the aid of a specially made daylight ring. And the only place to get one was from a witch. If she went to Bonnie, it would get out that she wasn't actually dead and her entire plan would be for naught. Elena nodded at the ticket master and stepped away from the window.

Her mind was going a mile a minute trying to think of a solution that didn't involving trying to convince Bonnie to keep the secret of her survival. The only options she could think of was to steal a ring or to find another witch willing to aid her. Caroline only took off her ring while she slept at night, but because her mother was still alive, Elena would be unable to sneak into the house without getting an invitation first. She knew she could always get into the Salvatore boarding house since she had been the last living owner and the barrier was broken when Klaus had killed her. But it seemed wrong to steal a ring from one of the brothers when they had worn it for over 150 years. Not to mention, more than a little dangerous. Stefan and Damon were comparatively old vampires, and they would know she was there faster than she could apologize. That left finding another witch, and that meant getting out of Mystic Falls the old fashioned way.

Knowing she didn't have much time before sunrise, Elena turned towards the nearest foreclosed house she remembered searching with Stefan. It would do until she stole a car and left town.


	4. Choiceless

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

* * *

Choiceless

"Do you have any news, Sheriff?" Stefan opened the door before Liz Forbes could knock on the old wood.

The sheriff sighed and tucked her thumbs into her belt. "I'm afraid not. The house is a complete loss. It was so hot, I doubt there's even a body left to find."

Stefan's hands tightened on the edge of the door, turning his knuckles white. "Thank you for stopping by." The blonde began to shut the heavy door, but another hand stopped its motion.

"Any idea what caused the fire?" Damon tried not to look like his sanity hung on the answer.

Liz sighed again and shuffled her feet. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone until the investigation is over, but I know how much Elena meant to you two. They think the fire started in the bathroom. Probably sat her curling iron too close to the hairspray. It's a lot more flammable than most people think."

Both brothers glanced at each other, trying not to look like they were having a silent conversation, but the sympathetic official missed the look and started turning towards her squad car. "I'll let you know if they find anything else."

"Thank you Sheriff." Damon waved as the younger vampire pushed the door shut. "Curling iron too close to the hairspray." He mocked, not buying the cause for a second.

Stefan crossed his arms and leaned against the closed door. "Elena is smart enough to know that insurance wouldn't pay out in a suicide so she would probably make it look like an accident."

"Damn her." The dark haired man wanted to rage and fight and break things, but he held himself in check. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Understanding his brother's pain, Stefan pushed away from the door and put his hand on Damon's shoulder. "I don't know. I never imagined that she would be gone."

"Didn't she think about us?"

The defeat in his voice pulled at the younger brother's heart and the blond hated what he was going to say next. "I'm sure Elena did think about us, and she felt that this was her best choice."

"How could she think that?" Damon hated himself for showing such a weak emotion as grief, but somehow he knew that Stefan wouldn't use it against him.

"Because she singlehandedly saved everyone in town. Without the doppelganger line, Mystic Falls is anything but mystic. Jeremy can live a normal life. Bonnie doesn't have to do magic. Caroline can go on being herself. And we just do what we've done for years. Take things one day at a time." Exhausted from his speech, Stefan squeezed the firm shoulder under his hand before letting go.

Damon nodded having heard his brother's words, even if he wasn't ready to accept that things could ever be normal again. This wasn't the same pain as when he realized that Katherine had abandoned him for over a century and a half. It felt like his heart had been torn out and crushed, but somehow he still existed. Briefly, he considered doing something drastic like tearing out the throats of every mortal in town, but the memory of her beautiful smile whenever he did something selfless stayed his rage. He knew she would want him to protect everyone she had cared about, including himself and Stefan, so the dark haired vampire decided that was what he would do.

"Let's have a drink." The elder brother caught Stefan's elbow and squeezed in understanding. This wasn't going to be easy, but they owed it to her memory.

* * *

Stefan stood shirtless in his bedroom, lean muscled arms resting above his head on either side of the window frame. Bright morning sunshine streamed through the window and warmed his skin. In life, he had taken the sun for granted. All it did was redden his skin, lighten his hair, and make his eyes ache after a night sampling from his father's store of wines. After his death, the sun was momentarily a nuisance, keeping his from his intended victims. But after Emily presented him with his daylight ring, the sun was unimportant again. Darkness was a clear as day, and no amount of time in the sun would ever bring out a healthy tan in his skin.

Only after Elena entered his life, did he appreciate the sun again in the way it caught in her luxuriously soft hair and illuminated her delicate features. On lazy mornings they had stood in the window together, watching the sunbeam slowly creep up their naked bodies. They had a picnic one summer where she stretched herself out along his body, letting her hair fall in a curtain between them and the rest of the world. Stefan longed to go back to those days, instead he glared at the sun climbing higher in the sky, mocking him with its cheerful rays when today was anything but happy.

Today they would lower an empty casket into the cold dark ground and carve her name into a lifeless stone.

In a fit of pique, the blond man pushed the ring off his finger one handed. As soon as the silver band was dislodged, his skin began to redden and blister where the sun touched him. The physical pain was a welcome distraction from the agony in his heart. When it became too much, he spun away from the window with a snarl and slipped the ring back in place. Within moments, his skin was flawless again and the blond contemplated repeating the experience in an attempt to burn off all of the skin that Elena had touched with her gentle hands. But he knew that her sweet kisses had branded him deeper than his skin and no amount of time spent in the sun would erase those marks on his heart.

"Are you finished torturing yourself?" Damon's voice issued coolly from the doorway where he stood looking as if it were a day like any other in his crisp black clothes and carelessly tousled hair.

Stefan considered saying something scathing and witty, but he knew that his brother wasn't really the cause of his internal turmoil. If anything, they should be commiserating on their shared loss, because if he knew anything, it was that Damon had loved Elena just as fiercely as he had. He hadn't wanted to admit that the older man could actually love after the whole debacle with Katherine, but now that they had both lost Elena, Stefan was ready to admit that Damon had a heart.

The blond vampire nodded in acknowledgement of the rapidly dwindling time before the ceremony was to begin. "I'll meet you downstairs."

A strange expression passed over Damon's face before it was quickly wiped away, like he considered sharing just a little of his pain as well but decided against it. "I'll be downstairs. With the liquor."

"Save me a glass." Stefan called after his brother. Something told him it was going to take more than just a drink of very old scotch to help him survive the day.

* * *

Stefan dropped bonelessly onto the settee that had become his spot in front of the fireplace while Damon poured drinks. The day had been entirely too long for as emotionally charged as it had been and the blond could only wonder just how much his brother was hurting. Usually after a funeral, the raven haired man would disappear and leave a trail of blood and bowlegged women in his wake. Accepting his glass of bourbon, Stefan knew that it was even worse that Damon had draped himself in an armchair to brood, but he figured if the older man hadn't flipped the switch on his humanity yet, he probably wouldn't.

And he knew just how tempting it was to throw the switch and turn all the pain of losing Elena off. But the thought of how hard they had fought to bring him back the last time kept his humanity in place. The pain was his punishment for taking the brunette's love for granted. A thought occurred to Stefan as he watched his brother hold a mouthful of the well aged alcohol in his mouth. He and Damon were far more alike than they were different, so what sins was the blue eyed man accepting his punishment for.

"You know, it killed me seeing you two together." Damon didn't turn away from the fire filling the room with warmth, but his eyes were wide and he looked like the words hadn't really had permission to be released.

The blond vampire considered rubbing the dark haired man's nose in the relationship he had with Elena, but after their conversation a week ago on their way to the coast, Stefan just didn't have it in him. Without the beautiful woman, all he had was his brother. "I was jealous of you." He finally admitted.

"Of me?" Damon finally met his younger brother's gaze. "You had everything. I was just the selfish bastard that wanted a little of it for myself." He laughed ironically into his drink.

"Don't you see? Elena loved you too, even if she tried to deny it." Stefan sat forward, determined to see the rift between them ended. They shouldn't fight for the rest of eternity when all they had was each other.

"Maybe." The older man had always been his own worst enemy. "That didn't give me the right to do what I did."

"I forgive you." He stared at his brother until Damon looked at him again and accepted the truth of the statement. "Maybe we're just destined to have a doppelganger come between us, but now that the line is ended, I want us to be brothers again."

Damon snorted at the declaration of family ties. "What's mine is yours, as always." He drained his glass and tried to ignore the conversation Stefan seemed intent on having which worked for a few moments.

The younger man watched the way the firelight played in the half empty glass of bourbon until he quietly spoke to the quiet room. "We could have both had her."

Mindful of his supernatural strength, Damon allowed his hand to clench around his empty glass. Why did it have to take her death for Stefan to come to that conclusion. All of this could have been avoided if they had stopped playing by human monogamous rules when their feelings had come to light, but it was far too late now and he stated such before standing and putting away his glass.

If Stefan responded, the dark haired vampire didn't want to hear it. Elena was gone, the Petrova doppelganger line was ended, and even Katherine had disappeared again, if she was even still alive, so the topic was effectively moot. Damon decided that he wouldn't stick around Mystic Falls. Let his brother work out his guilt by looking after Bonnie, Caroline and the others. There was nothing for him here and if he was simply going to exist, it might as well be anywhere.


	5. Living With Choices

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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* * *

Living With Choices

A year passed without much change. Damon circled Mystic Falls, drinking what and when he wanted, but without the passion he previously had, occasionally stopping at the boarding house. He felt like he was in a holding pattern without any idea what he was waiting for. Stefan remained a constant in town, a friend to everyone that Elena had left behind, even becoming a sort of big brother to Jeremy who was completely devastated by losing both his sister and the closest thing he had to a father figure. Despite the significant supernatural population, Mystic Falls had quieted when it came to mysterious killings and threats, for which they were all thankful.

Tormenting the younger vampire was no longer entertaining to Damon so he continued each day as if time didn't matter, watching pretty bags of blood dance in clubs and drinking himself steadily through every bottle he could find. Consciously, the date didn't matter to Damon, but he still knew in his heart that it was the anniversary of defeating Klaus and losing Elena in the fire. It made him morose and uninterested in any of the women who approached him in the club he was occupying. Until one brunette woman caught his eye. Her long straight hair was the same shimmery chocolate brown as his lost love, and she moved gracefully through the crowd, her back to the bar, flirting at anyone showing even a little interest in her. He couldn't drag his blue eyes away from the sliver of her shoulder he could see through the crowded dance floor. Before he had made up his mind, the vampire drained his whiskey and slipped into the mass of people.

The mystery woman didn't turn around as she leaned in close to men and women alike and the delicate way she wove her body through the crowd made Damon suspect she was also a member of the unliving. It had been a while since the black haired man had indulged in the company of a vampire, and it raised a new hunger in him. Finally, the woman he was following reached the center of the dance floor and stopped. She tipped back her head and moved with the music, not even flinching when Damon came to a stop behind her, pressing his chest to her back and letting his hips do all they talking they needed. He let his senses take in the sweaty press of people, full of blood, as well as the waft of flowery shampoo from the woman's hair. If he didn't know better, he would have said it was the same brand Elena had used.

Feeling the woman pull away slightly to turn around, Damon opened his eyes as he rested his hands on her hips. Then he nearly tripped backwards when he finally saw her face. "Katherine?" He choked out in disbelief.

The brunette glanced around the crowd before smiling beautifully, never slowing her tantalizing gyrations to the music. "Hello Damon. It's been a long time."

Memories of Katherine and Elena tried to rise, reminding him of all the moments with the doppelgangers, but he pushed them away. He knew that they weren't the same person, but his heart leapt at the chance to have Katherine again, even if it was really Elena that he needed. "I don't suppose you were here looking for me?" He threw out his playful lopsided smile.

Returning the smile, the brunette looped her hands around Damon's neck, scratching her nails through his slightly curly black hair. "I was just passing through."

He couldn't help pulling the petite woman closer, pretending for just a moment that it was Elena with her arms around him. "Without saying hello?" The blue eyed vampire tried to look hurt that she would visit the area without searching the Salvatore brothers out.

"Hello." She acknowledged interestedly, moving faster as the music peaked.

Intentions settled, Damon threw himself into enjoying the unexpected treat of a night with his maker. He hadn't been with a vampire since before the Gilbert house burned to the ground and it would be a delicious release to take everything out on a resilient body. Plus, he didn't even need to imagine Elena's pretty face as the two women were as identical as twins despite the centuries between their birth. They danced with each other, occasionally letting an unsuspecting human slip between them to whet their appetites. The brunette sipped daintily from wrists and necks, quickly compelling away any objection before pushing them back into the crowd.

When they kissed, the taste of blood mingled with the alcohol they drank liberally. In his inebriated state, Damon imagined this is how it would be if Elena had transitioned and not just been lost to the fire. She would be sensual and delicate, putting all other women to shame as she got lost in the music and let her senses fill up with the pulsing of the humans all around them. It didn't matter that it was really Katherine pressing herself against his hard chest. All that mattered was forgetting his pain, even for a moment. Suddenly, Damon couldn't stand being surrounded by the crowd, watching the brunette lure men and woman in with her sensuality. He needed her all to himself and he caught her wrist to lead her outside.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a destination in mind, so he ignored her weak protests and opened the door on his Camaro and gently pushed the petite woman into the back seat. It didn't matter that she would always chose Stefan over him, Daman just needed to lose himself in her body for a moment. The objections petered into breathy moans when the raven haired man climbed into the back of the car and buried his face in her cleavage. He mouthed her smooth skin, occasionally scraping blunt teeth over her breasts, mindful of Katherine's longstanding dislike of blood sharing except when it suited her desires.

The brunette shifted as much as she could until his hips settled between her legs, pressing their aching cores together. She pulled at his shirt, trying to get at his skin, even as Damon tried to push her top up, tangling their arms. Eventually, the couple managed to get jeans and their remaining clothes out of the way and they groaned together at the sensation of cool skin pressing and rubbing together. He plucked at her nipples and sucked bruises on her skin that faded as soon as he pulled away. Running her nails down his back roughly made his hips jerk forward, pushing her head against the door, but they were oblivious to the cramped location. All that mattered was answering the fire scorching through his body.

Damon smirked when he pushed into her and the brunette threw back her head with a protracted moan. Flush with blood and alcohol, her body was hot and tight, threatening to send him over the edge far quicker than he had anticipated. He focused on the quick snap of his hips into the petite woman, taking what he wanted with his brutal pace. She could only cling to him and take it, adding a chorus of breathy moans between his determined grunts. Before he knew it, they were falling off the precipice and Damon struggled to bite back the name waiting on the tip of his tongue. Katherine may be adventuresome and open to just about anything, but no woman quietly tolerates a man calling another woman's name during sex.

Their heartbeats began to slow as they lay tangled together in the back seat of the convertible. Damon hummed in approval when the brunette ran her nails across his scalp and traced blind patterns on his back. If he kept his eyes shut, he could almost believe that it was Elena holding him close, running her hands over his skin. His eyes popped open and he studied the lithe woman while she still floated in a satisfied haze. As far as he could remember, Katherine had always been an aggressive lover. She wasn't satisfied until he looked like he had been mauled, but this time she hadn't even tried to mark him. Suspicious of the change in personality, Damon momentarily berated himself for wondering if things weren't quite as clear cut as they appeared. But it would also be simple to put his questions to rest.

"Elena." He breathed the name between them, watching her face closely. Any woman would be furious, but her deep chocolate brown eyes opened slowly, questioningly rather than angry.

He scrambled back, momentarily regretting having to disengage from her welcoming body, but the shock didn't let him worry about covering himself. "You died. There was nothing left." Disbelief colored his voice, as well as confusion.

"I'm so sorry, Damon." The brunette apologized while she reached for her panties which had ended up laying over the headrest of the front seat.

"But you're a vampire." Maybe so much alcohol hadn't been such a good idea. His thoughts were scattered and muddled. "Who took you? How did you get away?"

Elena looked ashamed, refusing to look at the older vampire as she fumbled for the rest of her clothes. "No one took me."

"Then what happened?" Damon caught himself shouting and clenched his hands to keep from forcing her to look at him.

She sighed sadly and clutched her clothes in her lap. "Promise you won't be angry with me?"

"I'm already angry, Elena!" The older vampire ran his hands through his hair before blowing a lungfull of air through clenched teeth. "I can't believe you've been alive this whole time."

"You weren't ever supposed to know I survived." She said sadly, gazing at him with large brown eyes.

"What about Stefan? You just left him behind."

Elena looked like she had been slapped by his vehemence. "No, I had to leave both of you behind. Don't you see?" The brunette reached out to touch his hand, but Damon pulled away as much as the cramped car would allow.

"Obviously, I don't, so you had better explain it to me." A year's worth of sorrow and pain and regret made him bitter when he learned that she hadn't actually died in the fire.

Elena struggled to find words that would satisfy the blue eyed man. "I chose this because I couldn't have anyone else die because of me."

His eyes narrowed, studying the young woman. "You're lying."

"I'm not." The brunette objected weakly.

In a flash, Damon was crowding into her space, on hand clenched firmly in her hair at the back of her neck, forcing her to look at him. "Tell me the truth!"

Anger flashed in Elena's eyes and she pushed him hard in the chest. Damon let himself be shoved away as the younger woman leaned into his space instead. "Fine, you want to hear it? I couldn't choose between you. So I stole your blood and Stefan's and set the fire and killed myself so I could just vanish."

After her outburst and the revelation of the truth, it took a moment for Damon to regain his voice and when he did, it wasn't the most articulate of responses. "You what?"

Elenea continued to justify her choice, despite having no responsibility to do so. "I've checked, no one has died in Mystic Falls since I did it. Don't you see, everything was because of me. And now that I'm gone, everyone else gets to have a normal life." Her anger spent, the petite woman removed herself to the opposite side of the back seat again.

Damon considered her answer, knowing that it was exactly the same assumption he and Stefan had made a year ago, but somehow everything was different because while she had died in the fire, it wasn't nearly as permanent as he had thought. "What about me? Did you think about how it would kill me to think you were dead?"

The brunette looked ashamed and apologetic at his defeated voice. "I had to Damon. I couldn't choose because I couldn't live with losing one of you. It's not fair to you or Stefan for me to want both of you, so I had to leave."

He nodded in acceptance. Being rejected by Petrova doppelgangers in favor of his brother had always been a sore spot for Damon, but somehow it was more bearable that it wasn't really a rejection. Yet he still had to know. "And running into me tonight?"

Elena sighed and tucked her messy hair behind one ear in such a familiar action that he imagined for just a brief moment that the last year hadn't actually happened. "I slipped up and got sloppy. You weren't supposed to ever see me again."

"But I did. And now you get to face Stefan." Damon's eyes had hardened and he finally pulled on his rumpled clothes.

The lithe woman didn't argue, just nodded and kept her eyes downcast while the raven haired vampire dressed and got out of the back seat. She berated herself silently for the current situation, but knew she had to go through with the awkward apology to Stefan. He deserved to know the truth just like Damon did, but hopefully he would take it better. Elena sighed and climbed through to the passenger seat, wishing she could regret running into Damon at the dance club and playing along with being Katherine. But somehow she couldn't regret their rendezvous in the back seat.

Damon, however, seemed perfectly happy to ignore the young woman, not even looking her way as he tossed his phone on the dash and climbed into the driver's seat. They quickly pulled away from the club in silence, back on the familiar road towards Mystic Falls. Elena indulged in watching the older vampire in the reflection on her window and hoped that Stefan was still as calm and understanding as he had been before she disappeared.


	6. Refusing to Choose

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

Check out my new poll!

* * *

Refusing to Choose

Stefan was waiting on the front step when the powder blue Camaro pulled up to the boarding house. Elena didn't make any move to get out of the car, knowing that Damon would probably want to speak with the blond before revealing her presence. The sharp look he shot her before getting out of the car was all the confirmation she needed that the raven haired vampire was more than a little angry with her and she couldn't blame him in the slightest. It had been her intention to completely disappear and she never considered what would happen if they met again.

Observing the angry way Damon held himself and the mysterious text to meet him at the Boarding House, the blond vampire knew something important had happened and he took a couple of steps to meet his brother. "What happened?"

The dark haired man crossed his arms when he was close enough to speak quietly with his brother, well aware of how sensitive Elena's ears were now. "I met someone in town."

"Who?" Stefan hated when he was forced to drag information out of the older man.

Damon blew out a breath, attempting to tamp down his anger at the situation knowing it wouldn't help anything. "Now Stefan, this will probably be quite a shock, but save your self righteous speeches, okay?"

"Who is it?" It was the younger man's turn to cross his arms.

"You can get out of the car now." The older vampire called over his shoulder. He kept his eyes on his brother, however, watching carefully for his reaction.

Stefan wasn't sure who he should expect to get out of the Camaro as his brother could have run into just about anyone from Elijah to a particularly compelling human. When the door opened and a classy leather boot appeared, he knew it was a woman, which narrowed down the list of potential visitors, but made him doubly anxious. Over the last year, Damon had seriously cut down on his womanizing, but over 150 years of experience had taught the younger man that the fairer sex was always more than a little trouble. What he didn't expect in the slightest, was the brunette head that appeared climbing out of the car.

Damon could tell by the way his brother's eyebrows furrowed that he had made the same logical deduction of the young woman's identity when she climbed out of the convertible. But he wasn't expecting Stefan's eyes to widen in shock and realize his first assumption was wrong. The dark haired vampire wondered if maybe he actually was as blind as he had been accused of being in the past when it came to seeing what he wanted.

"Elena?" Hesitantly, the blond took a step closer, wanting to run to her and wrap her up in his arms, but he wasn't sure he could trust his eyes.

"Hello Stefan." The brunette tucked her hair behind one ear and looked shyly at her last boyfriend.

He was overjoyed to see the young woman again, yet confused as to how she could really be standing before them. "What happened?"

Elena glanced at Damon so quickly that the blond vampire almost missed it. "Maybe we should go inside?"

"Of course." Stefan gestured towards the front door, but held back next to to his brother as they entered. "Is this real, Damon? I'd stake my life that's not Katherine."

"Oh, it's Elena all right. It seems Miss Gilbert didn't actually grow out of her self sacrificing stage." The raven haired man looked pointedly at her, making sure she knew exactly how displeased he was with the turn of events.

Feeling out of the loop, the younger brother addressed their visitor, hoping for some answer that made sense. "What does he mean?"

Elena sighed and wrapped her arms around herself despite the warmth from the fire in the main sitting room. She had missed the old house and had never dreamed to see it again. "I did this to myself."

"How?" Stefan ignored his brother's glowers where he stood stiffly next to an armchair, and he lead the brunette to a couch to sit together.

For a moment she let herself drink in the sensation of her former boyfriend's warm hands on hers, but knew the truth had to come out. "Short version is, I stole your and Damon's blood and drowned myself during the fire so you would think I had died."

Stefan tried to keep the hurt he had carried for the last year out of his voice, wanting to know the whole story before deciding what to do next. "Why?"

She sighed sadly, squeezing the hand still holding hers. "Because I couldn't let anyone else die for me."

Damon growled and came to stand between them and the fire, looking like an angry silhouette of himself against the flames. "Come now, Elena, I think Stefan deserves the full truth."

The blond man ignored his brother looming over them, willing to wait for the words to come to her and he was rewarded. "I couldn't come between you two any more."

Just as he had secretly suspected. They hadn't told the brunette of their agreement for the other brother to step back once she made her choice between them, but it was the only logical outcome and Elena had obviously come to the same conclusion. Despite knowing her reasoning, he couldn't help asking his next question. "But you let us think you died."

"I did die Stefan. I had to." Elena pulled her hands free, putting distance between them. Her human life had ended and now she wasn't the same girl she used to be. There was no way that she could just go back to the way things had been, no matter how she still felt about the Salvatore brothers.

"But you're back now." Stefan nodded earnestly, scooting closer to the brunette on the couch, his mind already churning with ideas on how to bring her back into society.

Elena jumped up from the couch, nearly running right into the dark haired vampire's chest. "No, I didn't mean to. I just stopped in town and ran into Damon. I never meant for you to find out I was alive." She shook her head, ready to bolt for the door. None of this was supposed to turn out this way.

"We can't just forget now." The blond man stated calmly, looking up at the two vampires hovering, nearly touching, but not quite.

Everything was suddenly too real for Elena, still unused to her heightened vampire emotions. She was filled with longing to hop back in Stefan's bed where she had felt safe and loved and protected, but she also wanted the passion she had felt with Damon. "What do you want me to do? I can't go back to the way things were." Her hair flew around her face as she shook her head vehemently.

"No, there's too much history for that." Stefan agreed as he slowly stood, evening the ground between the three of them. "But maybe we can try again?"

Damon had kept his mouth shut as much as he could, but this was just too much. "Are you listening to yourself brother?" He watched the blond for any sign of insanity.

Resisting the urge to reach out again, the younger man made an offer while ignoring Damon's outburst. "Just stay for a little while."

The dark haired man threw up his hands and turned away angrily. Whatever point he had wanted to make by bringing the woman here had clearly been missed. "You're insane Stefan, you heard her, she doesn't want us."

Unable to ignore his brother any longer, the younger vampire snapped back. "On the contrary, I heard that she wants both of us."

"You're certifiable. How would that ever work?" Damon whirled again and pushed himself in Stefan's face, making sure he couldn't just ignore him. As much as his desire for the brunette had increased after tasting her earlier in the night, he wasn't stupid enough to let things go back to the way things were.

"I don't know, but it's Elena." Stefan shrugged his shoulders, refusing to respond in anger. "Can you honestly tell me that you would just let her walk away again?"

They both already knew the answer to that question, but Damon knew he still had to say it. "No, I can't loose her again."

"Then we owe it to each other to try." Stefan smiled simply and clasped his brother on the shoulder. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, and they would make mistakes, but what was the point of living forever if they constantly made the same choices.

Damon didn't want to share the beautiful woman with his brother; he was selfish and didn't play well with others, but when it came to Elena, he was completely and entirely whipped. After living the last year without her, he couldn't just let her go, even if that meant making this ridiculous agreement with the blond man. "Tsh, fine."

The two men turned to look at Elena and found her gone. Instantly, they broke apart to look for her, both vampires immediately assuming the worst. But before they could get further than a couple of steps, the brunette appeared from the direction of the kitchen holding three tumblers of ice and a decanter of bourbon.

"I figured you two needed a moment, and we could all use a drink." She held up the decanter as if they hadn't already seen it.

Damon was the first to recover from the sudden assumption that they had lost Elena again. He threw his arms wide and gave his best bad-boy smile. "Good news, buttercup, all is forgiven."

"Really?" The brunette cocked an eyebrow, expecting a lot more groveling on her part before they forgave her.

"On one condition." The blue eyed vampire knew she would never be able to deny them, and he was tempted to make it something entirely self serving.

"What?" Elena knew that Damon could name anything he desired and she would probably agree just for the chance to repair her relationship with the Salvatore brothers.

"You stay here, at the boarding house." Good, he mentally patted himself on the back at the request. She would definitely agree, and he would have the opportunity to woo the beautiful woman without Stefan accusing him of rigging the game.

"Why?"

The raven haired man wasn't expecting the question and he fumbled slightly. "Because we miss you."

"Damon, don't." Elena chided, glancing at Stefan to gage his reaction. She didn't even want to think about how their relationship was going to change.

"He's right. It hasn't been the same without you." Stefan assured her.

"Please?" Damon pressed his palms together in front of his chest and waggled his eyebrows, knowing exactly how little she could resist his eyes.

The brunette squinted back before throwing up her hands in capitulation. "Fine. Just don't go telling everyone I'm here. I don't want Caroline or Bonnie to know, or Jeremy. They would kill me."

"Like you really have to twist our arms to keep you all to ourselves." Smiling like a Cheshire Cat, Damon took the bottle from her hand and poured two fingers in each glass.

Stefan took his glass and the brunette woman held out a glass for his brother. They all raised their drinks before throwing back the alcohol. It went unspoken that their relationship had changed irrevocably and it would take a lot of work to figure out, but the all had eternity now and they were determined. Considering the morning was fast approaching, it was quickly agreed that they should retire and figure out everything else when they were rested and not so emotionally raw. Elena immediately turned towards the guest hallway and away from the brother's bedrooms but Damon caught her wrist and pulled her back.

"Not so quick, sweetcheeks. You already pulled one disappearing act. You get to stay with one of us."

"Damon, that's not fair! I told you that I wouldn't choose between you." The brunette objected.

Stefan laid a calming hand on her other elbow. "How about you switch tomorrow?"

"What a wonderful idea." The raven haired man smiled benignly at his brother. "Considering what we were doing when I recognized you, why don't you stay with Stefan tonight."

Elena blushed prettily and dropped her gaze. "Fine." She promptly took Stefan's hand and led the way to his bedroom.

It was odd being back in the familiar room. An entire year had passed since she had been there, yet it felt more like a decade. Elena wasn't the same girl that had played at loving a vampire. Since then, she had taken her own life, held hundreds of stranger's futures in her hands, and survived completely on her own. She hadn't needed rescuing and the feeling of protection she had always gotten from Stefan didn't seem as important any more. The only way she could have explained how she felt, was powerful for the first time in her life.

But when she looked at the man hovering nervously beside the bed, Elena recalled the memories of lazy days spent in his arms and smiled warmly. She let herself feel all of the love for the blond man that she had kept bottled up over the last year. This was her Stefan and she had been given another chance to fall asleep in his arms and the brunette was not about to waste it. Elena forced down her own nervousness before wiggling out of her pants and doing a tricky maneuver to remove her bra from under her shirt. Appearing as calm as could be, the young woman slipped under the covers and gazed slow eyed at the older vampire until he stripped to his boxers and settled in the bed as well.

The brunette half expected to be inundated with questions, but the older vampire only brushed his hand against hers to reassure himself that she was really there. Elena was quickly asleep, whereas Stefan could only stare at his ceiling, watching the light slipping through the curtains gradually lighten with sunrise. Unable to remain still any longer, he grabbed up his cellphone and sent a message to his brother.

-What were you doing when you recognized Elena?- Stefan watched his screen for an answer despite not being certain that Damon was still awake at that hour. He didn't have long to wait.

-I thought she was Katherine, so what do you think we were doing?-

The blond man frowned deeply. He didn't have to guess what they had done as he could smell his brother on the brunette, but a part of him had hoped that it was a mistake. Stefan let the jealousy flow through him, even as he consciously knew it had to happen eventually if they were to share. Only the knowledge that Damon probably hadn't know it wasn't Katherine until after gave him any satisfaction. At least he hadn't been able to really enjoy it at the time.

Another text from the other room drew his attention. -Is she asleep?-

-Out like a light.-

Moments later, the door opened slightly and the blue eyed vampire slipped into the room. Stefan waved angrily for him to leave, but Damon ignored him and crept towards Elena's side of the bed. He picked up her pants and quickly snuck back out of the room again, leaving his younger brother confused.

-What are you doing?-

-You'll thank me in the morning.- Damon texted back immediately.

Stefan didn't entirely want to know what his mischievous sibling was up to so he tried to close his eyes and relax in order to get at least some sleep. Surprisingly, when he opened his eyes again, the bed was empty and voices drifted across the house. Elena must have woken up and Damon would be playing host, probably offering her bagged blood and whiskey at that very moment. He didn't want to hear their flirtatious comments and quickly locked himself in the bathroom for a shower. But the blond man couldn't help trying to think of something that he could share with Elena without Damon.

When he finally appeared in the kitchen, Damon was indeed sipping on a blood bag, but Elena's arms were crossed. "Stefan, make him give me my clothes back."

Indeed she was standing pantsless in the center of the rarely used room, glaring at the raven haired vampire, looking entirely delectable in nothing but one of Stefan's button down shirts, hair still wet from a shower. Damon threw him a smug smirk over his blood bag and winked. The brunette shifted her weight and stuck out her hip haughtily, causing the shirt to ride up slightly to reveal the edge of a pair of black panties. Fortunately, the elder Salvatore finished his breakfast and took pity on Stefan.

"I just wanted to wash your clothes for you." He smiled benignly. "How about I get you some clothes and you go catch bunnies with my little brother?"

Elena didn't really want to go hunting, but when she caught the excited look on Stefan's face, she couldn't say no. "Okay."

Damon swaggered out of the kitchen, only to return moments later with a stack of neatly folded clothes for the young woman. "You left these here."

Elena gratefully accepted the clothes from him with a beautiful smile before flouncing away to change. Stefan just studied his brother, wondering what it meant that he had kept her clothes for a year. "What? You should be thanking me. Her legs are amazing."

The younger man gave a little huff of amusement and shook his head. As tough as Damon appeared, Stefan knew that he had a big heart and a romantic streak a mile wide. It would be difficult to stop looking at him as competition when it came to Elena, but it would be worth it, he was sure. They avoided looking at each other until the brunette appeared in the doorway.

"Ready to go?" She bounced happily on her toes until Stefan lead her out of the house.


	7. Considering Lost Choices

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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Considering Lost Choices

Elena turned her face towards the sun as they walked through the verdant forest. She had spent a lot of time in the dark since her transition and the warmth felt glorious on her skin. Stefan just walked along solemnly with his hands in his pockets, watching the ethereally compelling woman dance gracefully through the forest. He silently thanked whatever karma had lead to her return and finally couldn't hold back his smile. The brunette twirled back into his arms and caught his hand to hurry him along.

Stefan felt the delicate bones clasped in his hand, but something was wrong. He stopped walking and pulled Elena back to face him, catching her other hand. "You don't have a daylight ring."

They stared at their joined hands and the large lapis lazuli ring on the blond man's finger. By any logic, there should be a ring on her finger as well, considering the dappled sunlight wasn't sending her running for the shadows. But Elena smiled secretly. "I don't." She agreed.

"Then how are you not burning up?" After 150 years, Stefan thought he was somewhat of an expert on being a vampire, but here was a young one with a new trick.

"It took a while to find a witch that would even talk to me. And in the end she wasn't powerful enough to spell a whole ring. She could only do the gem."

"So you set it in something else? A necklace?" Except her neck was bare, as were her wrists.

The brunette smiled again mischievously, looking almost like her conniving ancestor. "Let's just say that I don't have to worry about anyone stealing my charm without some surgical experience."

Stefan was impressed. There had been more than one occasion where he had misplaced his ring or had it stolen. "That's rather ingenuous." One less weakness could never be a bad thing should Klaus come sniffing around again.

Hunger quickly sated by furry mammals, the couple walked leisurely back to the boarding house. The silence was comfortable until they reached the driveway and Elena recognized the car parked next to the house. "Jeremy."

"Shit, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that I've been tutoring him."

"Oh, that's good." She replied distractedly. Elena wasn't sure how she was going to announce her return to family and friends, but it certainly wasn't going to be on her first day back with no plan or preparation.

Stefan squeezed the brunette's hand to gain her attention. "I'll go in and take him to the library, you just run upstairs."

"Okay." Nodding her head in agreement, they opened the front door.

Immediately, they clearly heard Damon's voice from the sitting room. "I'm sure Stefan will be back any minute, Jeremy."

Sure that the coast was clear, Elena sped up the stairs and down the hallway towards the brother's bedrooms. Suddenly nauseous from the exertion, the brunette turned towards the first open door and practically threw herself down in front of the toilet. She then proceeded to vomit up all of the blood she had consumed that morning. Damon appeared in the doorway as the nausea was fading and he was instantly on his knees at her side, gently pulling the hair out of her eyes.

"Elena, what's wrong?" His concerned cerulean eyes scanned her for any sign of injury as he reached for a hand towel to wipe away the blood on her chin.

"I'm fine now." She spit another mouth full of blood in the toilet and tried to open her eyes. All she wanted was a nice long nap.

"Let me get a blood bag from downstairs." He tried to get to his feet but Elena clung to his black shirt.

"No, don't bother."

"Then tell me what's going on." Damon pleaded, staring at her fluttering eyelids, hoping for another peek at her chestnut eyes.

"I can't drink animal blood but I know Stefan won't want me feeding on people." The brunette confessed.

Damon nodded as if he understood even though he had never heard of a vampire being unable to stomach animal blood. Most of the time, blood was blood. "What about blood bags?"

Elena opened her eyes enough to watch the concern on the older man's face as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. "They make me sick if I exert myself."

"From the vein it is." The vampire agreed. "Can you stand?"

She nodded, determined to make it to her feet, but her knees hadn't seemed to get the memo. When her legs were unable to support her weight, Damon easily swept her into his arms and carried her gently to his bed. He laid her down and smoothed back her hair, letting the silky strands tickle his palm. Elena's eyes immediately fluttered shut.

"Sleep, beautiful. I'll pick out some clothes then run you a shower so we can go out and get you something tasty."

The brunette nodded once then gave in to her body's need for sleep. Damon watched her slumber for several minutes, rather in awe of her presence. Everything about her was delicate, from the gentle curve of her waist, to the fine bones in her wrists, but he also knew the power she held as well. It wasn't the same as the shear strength he and Stefan possessed, but the petite woman could accomplish anything she set her mind to. Figuring he shouldn't spend all of his time watching her sleep, the raven haired man pressed a kiss to her temple and went to find an appropriate outfit for the brunette.

When the clothes were selected and laid out in his bathroom, Damon checked in with his brother to let him know he would be leaving the house for the rest of the evening. He then returned to Elena's side to decide how best to wake the brunette. His logic was that the young woman would be taking a shower when she awoke, so he figured he would help her by removing her shoes. Ankle boots deposited safely on the floor, the vampire eyed her socks before removing those as well. And then he was distracted by stroking the sinfully soft skin on the tops of her feet, quickly turning the ministrations to a gentle rub when she mumbled in her sleep.

Elena rolled onto her back and threw one arm up over her head, making Damon pause at the strip of skin revealed when her shirt pulled up. He had started out trying to wake the brunette, but the sleepy murmurs that passed her lips as he touched her skin made him reconsider the game. The playful vampire carefully crawled up the bed until he could press small kisses to her stomach as he pushed her shirt up under her breasts. Even in sleep, her muscles jumped at his caresses, but she didn't object, so he upped the ante. The buttons on her jeans were tricky, but Damon was determined and soon the material had parted enough to tease him with the sight of dark green satin panties covering her mound.

Oh the things he could do, but they would have plenty of time for games later. Right now was just for removing her clothes. He justified that it would make her nap more comfortable, and make the transition to the shower that much easier so they could find a bite to eat before it got too late. Pulling the jeans off Elena's hips and down her legs was slow going, testing his resolve to enjoy the moment. As much as he wanted to spend all of his time buried between her long legs, especially now that he had experienced the heaven that it was, he also wanted to worship her body. She was the type of woman that deserved to have everything at her beck and call, not just exist for his pleasure.

Once the pants were flung across the room, Damon eyed the long sleeved shirt binding up around her chest. If he had his way, he would have torn the material off her, but he also found the way it had clung to her body very alluring and would hate to ruin such a well fitted piece of clothing. Besides, when he went to retrieve her things from the car still waiting outside the club that morning, there was only a limited number of outfits and he didn't fancy having to take her shopping any time soon. Maybe Stefan would be inclined to do mall duty.

Damon pushed the thought of Stefan and Elena together out of his head and carefully began positioning her arms to slip the shirt off over her head. Finally dressed only in her underwear, the dark haired man just watched the beautiful woman shift in her sleep. She rubbed her thighs together subconsciously before sighing happily and relaxing completely on the duvet. The older vampire forced himself to look away from her hedonistic sprawl for a moment to get himself under control. When he finally felt like he wouldn't get distracted again so easily, Damon crawled up beside the beautiful woman, tickling his fingers across her stomach to rouse her.

"Come on lovely, time to wake up." He whispered in her ear, brushing the chocolate strands from her cheek.

Elena just turned towards his meandering fingers and made a noise of sleepy disagreement which brought a fond smile to his lips. Just a small movement on his part would bring their mouths together, but he held back, vastly preferring her as an active participant. He felt along her rib cage instead.

"You should shower so we can get a bite to eat." He prompted, trying to resist the temptation to lay his head down on the pillow as well and pull her into his arms.

"Five more minutes." Elena didn't open her eyes as she nuzzled into Damon's shoulder.

Unable to resist her simplest desire, the older vampire let his hand come to a rest on her belly and started silently counting to 300. When he had estimated that 5 minutes had passed, Damon resumed his attempts to wake the brunette by caressing her arms and shoulders.

"Wake up sleepyhead." He wheedled, growing firmer with his touches until she complained with a series of unintelligible mumbles and tried to roll away. "Nope, in the shower you go."

Damon scooped the brunette out of the bed and strode to the bathroom. He could tell that she was only feigning sleep but he wanted to play along, so the dark haired man kicked off his shoes and stepped into the shower stall to let Elena's feet drop to the floor. She kept her arms around his neck as he continued to support most of her weight against his chest while he fumbled for the controls behind his back. The dark haired man hissed when the initial spray against his back was closer to icy than tepid and quickly soaked his shirt and black jeans.

If he had thought ahead, he would have changed out of his clothes, but this was probably safer. Having a wet and soapy Elena pressed against him while naked would probably mean they wouldn't leave the house for several hours and while Damon would never say no to a hedonistic day in bed, he knew that the brunette woman really did need to feed. He tried to keep the worst of the spray out of the brunette's face while he groped for the clasp on her bra. And the petite woman tried to help by pushing down her panties, but the way she wiggled against the taller man made him groan.

"Don't tease." Damon begged, removing her underwear and tossing them out of the shower.

Elena smiled at the blue eyed man, caught in his steamy gaze while the water warmed. They broke apart gently and Damon turned the smaller woman into the spray where she immediately soaked her hair and let the water cascade over her body. The older vampire stepped back to watch and consider all the things he wanted to do to the beautiful woman putting on a show of running a soapy shower puff over her chest.

The brunette forced herself to keep her eyes off of the way his soaked clothes clung to his muscles even as she could feel his gaze on her. She tried to ignore the wetness between her legs that had nothing to do with the shower, but all the petite woman could think of was how much she was looking forward to the foreplay being over. Despite having slept together at the club, Elena couldn't help feeling like they had regressed a year to longing looks and the barest innocent brushes of skin.

Unable to take the lingering smoldering gaze any longer, Elena wrung out her hair and slipped out of the shower while reaching for a towel. As she dried herself, the brunette allowed her eyes to wander to the frosty shape of Damon removing his sodden clothes. She looked forward to getting to know his body better in the future, having been teased with glimpses of his bare chest and well muscled arms. His entire being radiated sensuality, yet she knew that he could also be incredibly romantic in his own way.

Forcing thoughts of being pushed up against the counter and ravaged by the dark haired man, Elena examined the clothes he had picked for her. From the selection, she could assume that he was going to take her out to a club again. Low lights and inebriated crowds made for easy feeding as she had quickly learned. Most of her nights had been spent trawling clubs like the one Damon had found her in, and she looked forward to the sensual evening ahead. But when she picked up the underwear he had selected, the brunette drew the line.

"You really expect me to wear this?" She held up the pink pair of crotchless panties she had stolen from Victoria's Secret on accident.

Damon cracked the shower door and peeked at what article she was objecting to. "Trust me, you'll want to wear those." He smiled wickedly and returned to his shower.

Elena left the bathroom in her towel only to return moments later. "Did you only bring the skankiest clothes I owned?"

"No, I put the rest in Stefan's room." He turned off the shower and stepped out of the stall in all of his naked glory.

The brunette didn't bother trying to hide her appraising gaze until Damon rushed forward and had her backside planted on the sink and her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. "I thought we were going out for a bite."

Elena had momentarily forgotten about their dinner plans when she felt his silky hardness pressed against her thigh, tantalizingly close to where she needed him. But two could play that game, so the brunette pressed her breasts against his chest while winding her arms around his neck. She leaned in nuzzle Damon's neck below his ear. "The sooner we go the sooner we can come back and finish this."

Her whisper sent a shiver down the blue eyed vampire's back and now he was questioning why he was so determined to continue teasing her. Internally, he justified waiting as being considerate of their brothers downstairs. Jeremy was completely clueless regarding the brunette's presence, but Stefan would surely be listening to every sound from upstairs. "Yeah, let's go."

They dressed as quickly as they could, sneaking down the stairs quietly before bounding into Damon's car in the dark. Elena blushed when she glanced in the back seat, wondering if the night was going to end up the same way, especially considering his insistence that she wear the panties he had picked out. Rather than spend all of her energy wondering, the brunette decided that she would just enjoy whatever he had in mind.

She smiled carelessly, thinking inanely that this was what being a vampire was all about. There were no responsibilities, human rules hardly applied any more, and what else was immortality about if not to enjoy every aspect. Intoxicated by anticipation, Damon reached over and captured the petite woman's delicate hand and placed it on the shifter between them. He gave her one of his signature lopsided smiles and a wink before speeding away from the boarding house.


	8. The Other Choice

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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The Coward's Choice

By the time they returned to the boarding house, it was closer to sunrise than to midnight, but the pair of vampires didn't care. Jeremy's car was gone from the drive and Elena had a serious buzz going from the vodka they had consumed as well as the second hand high from the stoner she had sampled in the parking lot. She would never admit it, but the brunette had chosen the toker because his green eyes and black hair had reminded her of Damon and she might have been trying to provoke him. If the way he hadn't lost contact with her for the entire drive home was indication, she had been entirely successful.

Well aware of the game she was playing, Damon gave in to his possessive streak and had made sure that everyone in the bar knew exactly who the beautiful brunette would be going home with. The pot smoker she had sampled before climbing into his Camaro had been the final straw and the raven haired vampire planned on making sure she knew not to play with fire unless she wanted to get burned. He made sure to always be touching the petite woman, playing with her enhanced senses by tracing patterns on her skin before running his nails over the sensitive spot.

Elena reveled in the sensory play, always wondering what to expect next, constantly kept off balance, knowing that the older vampire wouldn't let her fall. Reluctantly, she slipped away from the older vampire's roaming hands and they raced from the car to the front door where he trapped her against the solid wood. He kissed the smaller woman with every ounce of desire he possessed and she knew she could trust him completely, she could give herself over entirely to letting Damon play her like a beloved instrument. They tumbled across the threshold and up the stairs, entirely unaware of Stefan standing in the doorway to his bedroom as they passed.

Damon pulled the lithe woman back into his arms, kissing her senseless after the door clicked shut behind them. All that mattered to him was tasting every inch of her body, starting with the lips that had driven him wild since coming across her in the dark on the side of a nameless road. He crouched just enough to wrap his preternaturally strong arms around her thighs and lifted Elena, encouraging her to wrap her long legs around his waist. After another scorching kiss, Damon carried his beautiful burden to the bed where he knelt and let her slide back onto the covers. For a moment, the older vampire didn't move. He wanted to memorize the sight of the brunette sprawled on his bed just in case he lost everything again.

The petite woman tried not to shift uncomfortably under his heavy gaze as she hardly felt worthy of his attention. Damon must have felt the tension, because he looked her straight in the eyes and let one hand hover over her hip. "May I touch you?"

Elena knew he wasn't the type of man that generally asked for permission and the question made her heart swell with love for his show of vulnerability. "Always." She promised.

As if she said the magic words, the raven haired man smiled beautifully before applying himself fully to her pleasure. Damon ran his hands all over her body over her clothes, feeling the dips and curves that defined her body, memorizing every joint and muscle before finally dipping just one finger under the hem of her shirt to trace across her belly. Elena loved the attention, but she was also impatient after the way he had woken her up from her nap and the sensual shower before they fed. She reached for the buttons on his shirt, but the older vampire caught her hands and pushed them away gently.

"Just let me do this." The plea was spoken softly between them, not meant for anyone else's ears.

"Okay." The brunette breathed back, trying to reconcile the passion he had exuded since their first meeting with the worshipful way he looked at her now.

Damon took a deep breath to center himself as he was entirely out of his depth with the glorious woman laid out in his bed. He knew he shouldn't be nervous, especially after their rendezvous in the back of his car, but he was determined to do things right this time. The raven haired man never would have taken her in the Camaro like some high schooler if he had actually opened his eyes and recognized her and now was the chance to make up for it. Thanking current fashion for being easier to remove than the corsets and skirts he was familiar with in his human youth, the blue eyed vampire again started at her feet and removed her boots.

The brunette woman let her eyes fall closed as Damon's dexterous fingers rubbed her ankles and circled her heel before tapping each toe. This was a side of him that she hadn't seen before and she felt like a goddess in his eyes. For the first time nothing else outside of the room mattered, time was unimportant and the past melted away, leaving the dark haired man reverently removing her jeans for the second time that day. Rather than worry about being a passive participant, Elena let the sensations wash over her, forcing her hips to remain still when he nuzzled her belly button and keeping her hands flat on the duvet despite wanting to run her fingers through his sinfully soft hair and directing his mouth where she needed. Somehow this was as much for him as it was for her.

For every inch of bare flesh he revealed, Damon touched and tasted, using every sense to absorb everything he could. This was how she deserved to be treated, a wonderful thing that he was hardly worthy to look upon, let alone do with as he pleased. Each kiss was an apology for his part in her becoming a vampire, as well as a promise to always be at her side as long as she wanted him there, even if it meant sharing her with Stefan. There was nothing he could deny the beautiful creature and he considered himself the luckiest man in Mystic Falls. Hours could have passed and the raven haired man would never get bored of exploring the goddess before him, but he could feel the tension coiling in Elena's body and he finally took advantage of the crotchless panties he had asked her to wear.

The scent of her arousal had been driving him wild all evening and he savored the first taste he took between her legs. Surprised by the change in tactics, she let out a low moan of pleasure and fought not to beg, knowing that would just make Damon tease her further. Encouraged by the noises she made, he was determined to make her repeat them over and over by licking, nibbling, and sucking on her clit. One of the advantages of being a vampire was the reduced necessity of breathing and the blue eyed man used it to his full advantage, bringing Elena to shrieking peaks of pleasure. He didn't stop until her thighs locked around his ears and he wondered if she was going to accidentally snap his neck.

After several moments, her cries died out to desperate whimpers and her entire body relaxed into a boneless heap. Damon smiled as he licked his lips, chasing the last tastes of her essence. He pressed a kiss to the artery running down the inside of her thigh before crawling up the bed to lay beside her. Her chest was flushed and the older vampire couldn't help stroking the edge of the bra he had neglected to remove. Elena twitched and her eyes fluttered open to meet his. Brown and blue simply watched each other while her thundering heartbeat slowed.

"You're overdressed." She murmured, trying to pluck at his buttons but her limbs wouldn't really cooperate.

Damon caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Let's get you under the covers."

"Hmm, what about you?" Elena started to sit up but the dark haired man pressed her back with kisses.

"I'll be right back." He slid off the bed and grabbed a pair of boxers out of a dresser before disappearing into the bathroom.

When Damon returned, Elena had pulled one side of the duvet over herself without getting between the sheets and he smiled. "Is there room for me?"

The brunette woman giggled sleepily and wiggled around enough to lay down properly, leaving plenty of room for Damon beside her. When he slipped under the covers, Elena immediately wrapped herself around him, twining their legs together and resting her head on his shoulder. Despite sleep calling to her, she ran her fingers over Damon's chest in random patterns, slowly trailing further down until he stilled her hand at his waistband.

"Don't worry about me." He murmured and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Why not?" She pouted, suddenly unsure of herself in the face of his gentle rejection.

"Because eating you out did it for me."

Elena could hear the smirk in his voice and she blushed. "I guess we'll have to work on your stamina."

"I promise, stamina isn't an issue." Damon threaded his fingers between hers above his stomach. "Tonight was just for you."

The brunette didn't know how to respond when his words made her stomach lurch strangely. While she hadn't been with many men, no one had ever made her feel so many things, even discounting heightened emotions due to being a vampire. Not only had Damon made her feel like the most beautiful thing in the world, he had taken pleasure in it which confused her further. She had always thought of the older Salvatore brother as being purely physical, but the care and devotion he showed her in bed was at odds with that assumption. Elena kept turning the events of the last few days over in her mind, getting nowhere fast until she succumbed to sleep nestled comfortably against the older vampire.


	9. Choosing Truth

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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Choosing Truth

Morning didn't bring any more clarity, and Elena carefully slipped out of bed without waking Damon. She found a fluffy blue robe she couldn't imagine the dark haired man to ever wear and tiptoed out of the room to Stefan's door. When she quietly knocked, there was no answer so she pushed open the door, looking for the younger Salvatore. Finding the room empty of its occupant, the brunette assumed he had already left to hunt, and took advantage of the solitude to search out the dresser Damon had stored her more conservative clothing. Having clothes in both rooms was definitely not the most efficient, but she didn't immediately have a better solution.

The petite woman made use of Stefan's in suite shower while trying to ignore her own thoughts on the older brother. There was no doubt that she loved them both, which is why she couldn't focus on one without the other. Right now all Elena wanted was to bury herself in the younger Salvatore's arms for a while. She dressed and checked Damon's room for any sign he had woken. Finding none, the brunette slipped quietly out of the house and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. It would be difficult to track Stefan, but she was up to the challenge.

The blond vampire had finished feeding and was sitting in a sunbeam staring deeper into the forest. He was completely unaware of being watched and soon got to his feet to return to the boarding house. Elena watched the older vampire approach and smiled as she had an idea. She zipped to another tree and froze when Stefan's eyes followed the movement. Whenever he would begin to move again, the brunette would dash around him again, making him pause. Speeding one more time in front of the older man, she suddenly found her trajectory changed and her back slammed against a tree.

"Elena?" He questioned, confused by her presence.

Smiling in response, the petite woman slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. "Hello."

He momentarily didn't return the kiss, but when she curled her tongue against the roof of his mouth, Stefan began to move. The blond man pulled her willing body closer, fingers digging almost painfully into her skin, but Elena only moaned in response. She nipped playfully at his lips with blunt human teeth as she ground her hips forward against his. Automatically, he pressed her harder against the tree, quickly losing himself to instinct and desire when she hooked one knee around his waist and revealed she was in a skirt.

Stefan didn't waste any time in feeling up along her bare thigh where it was still hidden by the pleated material, quickly finding her damp center. He pressed against her bundle of nerves and swallowed her moan of pleasure with his mouth. It was as if he was a drowning man and she was the only relief in sight. The older vampire left her kiss bruised lips and mouthed down the delicate column of her throat, growling in appreciation when he noticed her nimble fingers working on removing his belt. From the moment she drew him in, it didn't matter that she still carried Damon's scent on her skin or that he had never done something so crass as take her against a tree. All that mattered was trying to crawl as close to her heart as he could.

Elena cried out in satisfaction when his jeans slid down his narrow hips to free his election and he ground against her center, pushing her panties out of the way. This new wild side to the blond man only encouraged her further and the petite woman used her vampire strength to raise up enough to feel him nestle against her folds. A twist of her hips and they were both groaning unintelligibly as she encouraged him to thrust into her wetness. The brunette woman whimpered a litany of curses and vulgar encouragement into the older vampire's shoulder. Every snap of his hips sent her higher until he sought her lips again, biting hungrily at her neck in the process. She bit her tongue on one particularly powerful thrust before their mouths met and the taste of her blood nearly sent Stefan crazy.

His elongated teeth scraped her neck and the younger woman moaned an affirmative encouragement, which was all the permission he needed to let his mouth settle over her pulse. Elena tensed when his sharp teeth slipped into flesh, and she came undone at the first draw of her blood into his mouth. She shattered under his hands with a satisfying primal cry, heedless of who might hear them in the forest. Stefan thrust a handful more times before fairly crushing her lithe frame as he came. They continued leaning against the tree as their heart rates slowed and he licked at the wound already closing on her throat. Eventually they shifted enough to disengage but he didn't pull away. Stefan helped her pat her clothes back into place while keeping his arms firmly around her.

The brunette woman felt her knees quivering but she was content to remain in the safe circle of his arms. If it weren't for the older man's embrace, she likely would have slid down the tree trunk to sit on the ground for a while. She could tell that he had taken more blood than she expected, and while the hunger was churning below the surface, Stefan looked like the cat that caught the canary. This was the man she thought him to be while feeling powerful on blood but without the worry of becoming a ripper again. Slowly, the gentle Stefan she had called for in high school returned and he looked questioningly in her eyes, looking for some sign that he hadn't overstepped boundaries and managed to ruin everything. Elena smiled and left a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth before he could pull away.

"Let me catch you something." He offered to make up for the blood he had taken from her.

Suddenly overwhelmed by emotion, the brunette felt tears spring to her eyes. She shook her head and clutched at his shirt as her vision blurred. Stefan looked alarmed for a moment before pulling her to his chest and rubbed her back. "Go ahead, let it all out." If anyone was familiar with the effects of heightened vampire emotions, it would be him.

Elena had to come to terms with the contradictory nature of the two men she found herself pulled between. She had thought that Stefan was the sweet one, but once she allowed herself to think about it, Damon had always been romantic to her. And the initial assumption that the older Salvatore was a coldblooded killer through and through had been long ago proven false, but the blond had turned out to be hiding his secret ripper past. The brothers were two sides of identical coins, cast irrevocably in immortality by their father's unwillingness to accept their life choices.

One struggled daily to stay purely good, embodying the stereotypical hero right down to his appearance. The other danced on both sides of the coin, dabbling in both immediate gratification and self sacrifice, looking exactly like the kind of boy her parents would have warned her about. Yet they were far more alike than they ever would admit and Elena knew in her heart that she needed both of them. It was why she could never choose between them for anything. She had even used blood from both of them when she transitioned, unwilling to label one her maker at the expense of the other, despite her intention to never see them again.

The brunette also knew that they had a long way to go to overcome their long history if there was any hope for their unusual relationship to work. And the first step was to break the cycle of keeping secrets from each other. If they were going to be in this together, they would need to be open and honest, starting with her. Elena stopped sniffling pathetically against the blond man's chest and let her tears dry. Before Stefan could do anything more than squeeze her tightly, the petite woman took the first step.

"I have to tell you something."

"You can always tell me anything." The older vampire forced the instinctive tention from his body, prepared for her confession of the people she had killed over the last year. Every one of his victims had weighed heavily on his mind since he turned over a century and a half ago and she was too kind not to be affected by the deaths. "I understand, you can't let the guilt consume you."

"I can't do this any more, Stefan." She shook her head, face still pressed against his chest.

The raw shame in her voice tugged at his heart and he suddenly didn't want to hear her confession. "Hush, we all lose control sometimes."

"No, I can't drink animal blood." Elena finally looked him in the eyes, hoping that this would be the first step in healing and not push him away.

"What?" Of all the things he expected, it certainly wasn't that. For a moment he couldn't understand why she would have felt the need to hide something as simple as disliking animal blood. She definitely wasn't the only vampire that found his diet to be intolerable.

"I tried to, when I first turned but it makes me sick. I know you don't want me to hurt people, but I can control it. I haven't killed anyone." Elena tried to explain, but the lack of immediate response from the blond man had her worried.

Stefan floundered trying to reassure the brunette woman, but he was caught by her first sentence. "You made yourself sick yesterday?" That would explain why he thought he had heard retching upstairs when he was helping Jeremy with his homework.

"I just wanted to be perfect for you." The petite woman sagged slightly before his arms tightened around her again.

"No, no, you already are perfect. Just be yourself." He pressed his cheek to the top of her head. "If you have to feed with Damon, then we'll just have to find something else that's just for us."

Elena shifted enough to see his warm brown eyes and she recognized his sincerity. "How are you so good to me? I've done everything wrong. I've hurt you, I've fallen for your brother, but I still love you." She shook her head in confusion. Never in her wildest dreams did the petite woman dream that her confession would be so well received, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Stefan released his embrace of the smaller woman and cupped her cheeks between his hands, making sure he had her full attention before making his own confession. "Because I've realized that you're just as much a part of me as you are of Damon. I can't hurt him by being jealous any more than I could hurt you by walking away."

Her eyes watered again but it was with tears of relief. "Thank you Stefan." The path ahead wasn't clear, but they would make it together.


	10. Choosing Cake and Eating it too

Anything recognizable is the property of the appropriate owners. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.

This fic diverges at the end of Season 3, Episode 21: Before Sunset. Note: This was written before watching Season 4, Episode 16: Stand By Me.

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and descriptions of suicidal actions.

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Choosing Cake and Eating it too

Damon didn't know how to feel when he woke up alone. Part of him thought they had connected in a new way the night before and he had looked forward to picking up where they had left off. Instead, finding her side of the bed cold to the touch decidedly soured his mood. The raven haired vampire started his day mechanically, aware that the large house was silent, but he didn't want to think about what Elena and his brother could be off doing. Consciously, he knew that the younger Salvatore prefered hunting in the early morning, but the brunette used to take every opportunity to sleep in.

Disgusted with his conflicting emotions, the blue eyed man wandered aimlessly through the house. He took a couple of books back to the library, straightened the liquor bottles before going in search of clean glasses and then considered pulling out the decrepit vacuum for the hall rug. As he meandered across the house looking for something to distract him, the front door opened, nearly knocking him back and startling the elder Salvatore. Elena backed through the door, laughing at something the blond vampire had said.

Upon seeing Damon standing wide eyed in the foyer, the brunette smiled beautifully. "Good morning." She bounced straight up to him and kissed him deeply, one hand still clasped in Stefan's.

Elena continued into the house, letting her hand slip out of the younger Salvatore's when he remained stationary in front of his brother. When she was out of sight, Stefan looked Damon in the eye, face carefully neutral. "Thank you for taking care of her when she was sick yesterday."

Damon frowned slightly. "She told you about that?"

"Yeah, and why." Stefan tucked his thumbs into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He knew his brother well enough to know that he was just as uncertain in this arrangement, which only reinforced his determination not to sabotage their relationship this time.

"And you're okay with me feeding with her, on people?" The older Salvatore asked skeptically.

"If that's how she has to feed, I trust you to keep her from doing anything she would regret later."

"That's a lot of faith you're putting in me, little brother." He crossed his arms to appear aloof despite the panic that was threatening to crawl up his throat. No one had ever believed in him so much.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Elena." The blond vampire nodded, having expected to have to lay everything out for him. "We both love her, of that I have no doubt, but we're brothers. Since she can't choose between us, we both have a choice. I decided that I would rather share her than walk away from both of you."

Damon didn't know how to react to Stefan's little speech so he turned to his default defense of inappropriate humor. "Since we know she has trouble picking between us, what happens when she decides she wants both of us?"

Stefan blushed and looked away. "I, uh, was trying not to think about that bridge until we had to cross it."

"Thought so." The older brother smirked and followed Elena to the kitchen. Damon already knew that while he had never been inclined to share bedsports with his brother, he was fully committed to the petite brunette. If she demanded them both to strip naked right now just for a chance to kiss her feet, he wouldn't hesitate.

When he located the brunette, she was bent over trying to reach in a bottom cabinet and it took all of his limited self control to stay at least an arm's length away. As much as her pert heart shaped rear was begging for a sharp smack, the raven haired man was curious as to what she doing with most of their fingerfood spread out on the counters. Elena gave a triumphant wiggle of her hips and stood up, holding a large bowl like a trophy. She upended a bag of pretzels in the bowl and turned around to add it to the rest of the chips and popcorn. She caught sight of Damon and smiled brightly.

"What's all this?" He gestured at the range of snacks being corralled into bowls or laid out on trays.

"We are having a day in." She responded brightly.

"Okay, but what's all this?" The blue eyed man asked again, not making the connection between day in and chips.

"This," Elena explained as she came around the counter to stand before him. "is so we don't have to leave the couch."

Damon had become distracted by her proximity and completely forgot that he had asked a question, so he just smiled and nodded. Completely and entirely whipped, he thought inanely, and he hesitantly caught her hands. "As you wish."

The brunette beamed at him and tiptoed to press a quick kiss to his lips before turning away to pick up an armload of snacks. "Will you bring the rest?"

He followed the petite woman with the rest of the snacks to the sitting room and laid down his load on the already crowded coffee table. Stefan was sorting through one of the drinks cabinets and produced a selection of alcohol to complement the smorgasbord. Elena perched herself in the center of the couch with the remote and waited expectantly for the men to join her.

They debated their first cinematic entertainment of the day until the brunette professed that she didn't care what they put on as long as it didn't involve vampires, werewolves, witches, or any other supernatural creatures. While the brothers tried to decide between a classic they had seen decades before and a new release, Elena helped herself to snacks and shifted on the couch. She could have sworn that the piece of furniture had seemed so much larger before, but now, she could feel every movement the Salvatore's made. It was as if she was much more in tune with them and she could feel their presence acutely.

Trying to hide the thrill that went up her spine when Stefan laid his arm over the back of the couch, inches from her neck, Elena shook out a blanket she had stuffed under the couch for such an occasion and covered herself. Not that she was cold, but blankets were cozy and maybe, one of the brothers would see the opportunity and take it. Feeling like a teenager on her first date, the brunette tried to relax, satisfied when the blond man's fingers barely brushed over her hair.

It quickly became apparent, that no one was paying attention to the screen. Stefan used his arm over Elena's shoulder to slowly pull her closer until her head was resting on his shoulder. Damon seemed fascinated by the texture of her skirt considering he was lightly running his nails over the airy material covering the side of her thigh. The small contact was slowly driving her mad until she couldn't remain still any longer and she completely rearranged herself on the couch.

Elena laid herself sideways so that her head was resting on Stefan's lap, her legs stretched out across Damon's knees and the blanket covered all three of them. The younger Salvatore's arm slipped a few minutes later from where it had been laid carelessly along the back of the couch. His broad palm practically covered Elena's belly and she shivered in anticipation. Her senses were in overdrive as the dark haired man continued to caress her leg in maddeningly even strokes under the blankets. Stefan let his hand flex where it rested, gently pulling on her shirt until his pinky brushed her bare skin.

The brunette closed her eyes and concentrated on the luxurious feeling of their hands on her body, shifting her leg to encourage Damon to continue. Instead, she rubbed her calf against his hardness, causing his hand to stutter and his eyes to dart to the other end of the couch and his brother. Stefan was focused on the way Elena's long lashes brushed her cheeks and her lips parted slightly. They were so engrossed with the sensations, the house could have burned down around them and they never would have noticed. All that mattered was touching her just a little more.

Stefan and Damon reached their destinations at the same time, both men smirking slightly when Elena sighed and gripped the first solid thing she could to ground herself, which happened to be the blond's knee. The older brother teased at the silky skin of her inner thighs while Stefan stroked the underside of her breasts, slowly drawing tension into her body with anticipation. When Damon dug his fingertips into her inner thigh, Elena couldn't hold back a breathy moan and turned her head, only to feel the blond man's erection through his jeans rubbing against her cheek.

Not one to waste an opportunity, the brunette took advantage of her positioning to mouth the hardness constrained by the denim, causing Stefan to shift his hips in an attempt to relieve the pressure. Damon took advantage of her distraction to push her moist panties out of the way and slip a finger between her folds. He wasn't stupid by any means, and he knew that his little brother had taken a turn with her in the woods. The evidence was slick on his fingers, giving him an unexpected thrill at the thought of having her so soon after Stefan. It would take some maneuvering, but the younger man seemed content with Elena's mouth on him.

By silent agreement, the brunette woman released her grip on his knee and turned enough to reach for his belt. Damon pushed the blanket out of the way, revealing Elena's skirt pushed up around her waist and Stefan's hand in her bra. His past experiences with various threesoms had never set the raven haired man's blood racing quite like this and he paused in teasing her pussy to watch the brunette lick down Stefan's cock. She turned further to draw her knees under her, pushing her silk clad ass in the air and Damon wasn't about to let the opportunity pass.

He smoothed his hands over her heart shaped ass, waving tantalizingly close before he leaned forward to gently bite with blunt human teeth. Elena hummed in agreement, which made Stefan drop his head back as if he had never gotten a blowjob before. The blond man pulled her hair away from her face and used his grip to slow her slightly, gazing softly down at her. Damon turned on the couch as well, so he could kneel on one knee behind the sensual woman, his other leg stretched out to the side for support. He caressed her back and legs with one hand while undoing his own trousers.

Tearing her panties off was the last warning Elena received before the older vampire was sinking into her soaking folds with a groan. He would never get tired of being as close as he could get to the beautiful woman, and if the indecent moans coming from the other end of the couch were any indication, Damon could look forward to many repeats. They lost themselves in the rhythm ricocheting between them until they each reached their end, the eldest Salvatore finishing last and indulging in a sharp spank to the petite woman's rear for good measure.

Exhausted and momentarily sated, the trio of vampires settled back onto the couch again, curled together and resting comfortably. Damon was content to remain where they were, only willing to move if it was going to be to a bed. Steffan absently stroked the brunette's long hair, gently untangling any knots he had caused while letting his own eyes close. Elena surprisingly was the first to move, wiggling just enough to reach Damon's hand to give it a squeeze.

"Why didn't we do that sooner?" She sighed happily.

Stefan chuckled. "No idea, as long as we can do that again."

"I'm never one to say no." Damon chimed in. "But maybe in a bed next time. I have some ideas."

"Agreed. Not like we don't have time to figure things out." The brunette stretched, draping herself across the men again.

"Like how to tell everyone you're back?" Stefan opened one eye to watch Damon roll his eyes and Elena cringe.

"I'll figure out how to tell them later. For now I just want to lay here with you two." She nodded to herself and relaxed, fully intending to enjoy the post-orgasmic haze with her men. Anything having to do with the real world could wait as far as she was concerned.


End file.
